Web Video

One of the ways to get more eyeballs on your content is to use celebrities. Easier said than done, right? Well, tell that to Mark Malkoff. He’s managed to attract lots of celebrities and incorporate them into his video projects. It certainly doesn’t hurt that Mark’s made a name for himself by orchestrating lots of zany adventures, either.

In this exclusive NMX video interview, Mark talks about the many celebrities he’s gotten to participate in his videos, the importance of momentum, the challenges of contacting celebrities, and the value of being collaborative.

More and more content creators are starting to bring video into their efforts. Whether you already blog or podcast and want to add video to the mix, or just want to focus on video, there’s plenty to learn to be successful.

What if you could create one piece of content, and then turn it into four completely separate pieces of fresh, original content to use all over the internet to help market and promote your online brand?

In the meantime, and to get you thinking about the topic and what it can mean to you, as an online content creator, here’s a rundown on how it works. You’ll see a bit of a pattern developing, which I’ll cover at the end of the post.

Step 1

Sit down in front of a video camera, with a like-minded person that you know your audience will love to hear from. If you can’t be with them in person, then get them on Skype and record a split-screen chat between the two of you. We’re talking 20-minutes of content, that’s all that’s needed.

Step 2

Send that video to an AV virtual assistant to have it converted into an audio podcast. They’ll clean it up and splice together a cool sounding intro and outro, too – to make it sound super professional.

You can also have that VA cut up the original video file into 5-minute clips, creating four original videos that can be uploaded to YouTube and used for keyword marketing, individually!

Step 3

Send the audio file to a transcriptionist virtual assistant (known universally nowadays as a “VA”) and have them convert it into a Word document. They will then draft and schedule the written content into your blogging software, which can be used as blog post content.

Step 4

Send that Word document to a graphic designer virtual assistant and have them layout it all out into a snazzy looking eBook, or PDF guide of some sort, which you can then use as a giveaway – such as an opt-in offer – or just a freebie for your community – they’ll love you for it, telling all their friends to go visit your blog!

Step 5

Have that same graphic designer VA convert certain quotes from the conversation into images that you can use on your social media channels. They’ll brand the image with your logo, a cool photo and a URL for people to remember to check out later on.

BOOM!

Five different pieces of original, branded content created out of just 20-minutes of work. Did you see the pattern? Yep – you got it. Utilize the power of virtual staff to build your content creation empire.

This is Just the Tip of the Content Marketing Iceberg!

There are so many more things you can get virtual assistants to do for you as a professional content creator. Membership sites, squeeze pages, full-blown online courses, Kindle books – you name it.

They can’t, however, do any babysitting, or pick up your dry cleaning!

The list goes on and on and I’ll be going into a LOT more detail on everything at New Media Expo in January. I’ll even touch base on the different tools you can use to work with VAs to have them become super productive, and for you to get the biggest bang for your buck as a virtual boss.

Ever since I first clicked on a link to a live-streamed show, I’ve been bullish on live. This was back in April of 2007 just a few weeks after the first live-streaming platforms launched. As an actor turned producer I had awakened to the realization that in the 21st century artists no longer had to wait for other people to make their dreams come true – finally we had the tools to green light our own work, so by 2007 I was already deeply enmeshed in the online video world and active in social media, shooting podcasts, writing blog posts, Facebooking and Twittering away. And then came that live-streamed show. Just 15 minutes into it my heart began to beat a little faster, I began to envision all the possibilities…it was crystal clear to me that live streaming video has as much potential as podcasting, blogging, Facebooking and Twittering combined.

Why Live?

First of all, live is exciting! The knowledge that you are seeing something unfold, in real time right before your eyes is magnetic. Secondly, with live-streaming you get two for the price of one, both a live, interactive show and an on-demand video you can edit and upload to any site you wish. Thirdly, live-streaming manages to be both inclusive and exclusive at the same time. Anyone is free to watch the show and join in the chat room, and anyone can watch the recorded show at a later date, but only those people who are actually there live get to feel as if they have personal ownership of the content that was created. Lastly, and most significantly, live-streaming is inherently about community.I have long felt that online video soars when it stays true to the interactive platform it is built for, rather than the story telling models we are so used to watching on television. Community – the ability to interact with other people from all over the world, in real time, has been the greatest differentiator and power of the online world since it’s earliest days. Live-streaming is all about that community.

People come to a live-streamed show from all over the world, not just to see the show, but to see the other people in the chat rooms. Then they come back, episode after episode, partly to see all their chat room friends. So while appointment viewing may seem counterintuitive in a YouTube world, passionate members of your live-streamed show’s community will make a point of putting your show on their calendar. Your live-streamed show? It has now been transformed into an event, and the more your show embraces that community, the more passionate and devoted that community becomes – it’s like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube rolled up into one.

Nervous about live-streaming?

Don’t be! There are so many options and so many of them require nothing more than a computer and an internet connection,and a free account on Ustream or Livestream or SpreeCast or Justin.tv. The platform and methods you use depend on what you are trying to achieve…

Are you a social media blogger, a political blogger, an inspirational blogger? Is your main goal to develop deeper ties with a community you have carefully cultivated? You can probably keep it pretty simple – just a webcam, a live-streaming site, and off you go.

Are you a craft blogger or a food blogger and you want to invite your community to create along with you? Spreecast is a simple way to invite up to three viewers right into the video with you – you can all create together and chat with the rest of the audience as you go.

You can of course, get much more complicated as well. My company, VirtualArtsTV works in the performing arts, specializing in translating live theater, dance and music into a live-streaming event tailored specifically to the online video experience. In order to make sure our audience is always engaged, excited and leaning forward we utilize multiple cameras in every one one of our shoots, we shoot with a small video screen in mind and keep the action and the cuts moving as quickly as possible. While a lot of sites will facilitate switching multiple cameras right in their software, we go one step further and use Newtek’s marvelous Tricaster – which is simply described as a TV studio in a box. The demands of translating live performance into a live streamed event require a much higher level of technology than perhaps a talk-show might, but that is the point. There are so many ways to make live streaming work for you, from a simple one webcam experience to a high definition 8 camera event.

Live-streaming enabled us to engage a world-wide community in the performing arts

A few pointers as you begin to experiment with live streaming

Embed, embed, embed! Not all platforms facilitate embeds, but if yours does place your video on your site, on your blog, on Facebook – let your readers embed it on their blogs. The further your show travels the larger your reach.

Create a strong connection! You can’t control your audience’s bandwidth size, but you can control the quality of the file you upload. Turn off the wi-fi and use an ethernet connection to ensure you are sending the highest quality video possible to your live-streaming platform.

Make it social. Always utilize the Facebook and Twitter options in the chat rooms to further spread the word and grow your community.

Shoot with the end goal in mind. If you want your show to be as effective on-demand as it is live, then create it as if you were shooting a regular video. Search for similar shows on YouTube and play close attention to their camera angles, their editing, their graphics and their speed.

And lastly, Embrace your community. Chat with them, call out their names, invite them onto the show with you.

If you haven’t experimented yet with the possibilities of live, now is the time. It is the ultimate, community building, lean forward experience and one of the most exciting, malleable and promising tools of our wired twenty-first century. And if you have experimented with live, what was it like? What would you do differently next time? And what advice would you give to a live-streaming newbie?

Video is growing by leaps and bounds. More and more people who create videos are ramping up their efforts; turning their content into compelling web series. Is that you? If not, would you like to learn how?

At New Media Expo, we have sensational sessions planned for web TV/video producers, podcasters, and bloggers. If you’re already a video or web TV producer, or want to get started, you’ll find fantastic educational sessions from some of the top leaders in the industry.

For an overview of our web TV/video track, see below. To learn more about the speakers and the session takeaways, visit our web TV/video page. We hope to see you at NMX in Las Vegas, January 6-8!

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Legal Ease – What You Should Know To Stay On The Right Side Of The Law with Joe Warshaw, Shaun Spalding, and Art Neill

What’s The Latest As Web Series Go Mainstream with Shira Lazar, Zadi Diaz, and Rob Barnett

How To Get The Right Music For Your Web Series with Michelle Shocked and Cary LoGrande

Branded Entertainment: Is That An Oxymoron? with Kristyn Burtt

Directing Your Way Out Of A Paper Bag: Advice From Award-Winning and Nominated Web Series Directors with Sandra Payne, Kai Soremekun, Brett Register, and Scott Brown

Is There An App For That? How Can Apps Help My Web Series? with Jeff Koenig, Gregory Storm, Marc Ostrick, Josh Levine, and Frank Sinton

Monday, January 7, 2013

Ready, Set, Shoot — A Beginner’s Guide with Stephanie Piche

Show Me The Money! Ways To Monetize Your Web Series with Kristyn Burtt, Andre Meadows, and Nancy Tamayo

Pitching Your Web Series with Tim Street

A Digital Agent Walks Into A Panel… with Kevin Winston, David Tochterman, and Eric Kuhn

Write Now! Advice from Award-Winning and Nominated Web Series Writers with Jorge Rivera, Bernie Su, David Nett, and Sandeep Parikh

Chris Ducker is one of the best people I’ve met at past NMX (BlogWorld) events, so I was completely bummed when I found out he wouldn’t be speaking in New York due to surgery. I’m happy to report, however, that Chris has recovered (woo hoo!) and will be speaking at NMX Las Vegas (double woo hoo!). Chris is a virtual assistant maven, so he’ll be presenting “45 Things New Media Content Creators Can Outsource to Virtual Assistants to Help Grow Their Business” during the event, which you definitely don’t want to miss.

Did you know that Chris is also a talented video producer. Video is a hot way to reach your audience, but it can be frustrating to come up with content ideas. So in this video, Chris gives you ten great video content ideas that anyone can produce – no fancy equipment needed!

Here is the “show notes” version of Chris’ great ideas for video content:

I don’t need to tell you that video is an important component of any content production effort nowadays. The stats demonstrate that: every 60 seconds there are 24 hours of video uploaded to YouTube alone. This means that there’s no way to stay caught up, but it also means that there are a ton of people consuming video. Do a Google or Bing search and it’s quite common to see videos appearing as top search results too.

You can easily see how many people watched your video on YouTube and even see if people liked it or not, or left comments, but if you’re posting five minute videos that you’re convinced are super interesting, does your audience agree? Remember, the “viewers” stat refers to the number of people who began watching the video. If ten seconds in they say “Yikes!” and bail, it counts the same as someone who watches the entire video and visits your site for more information when they’re done.

That’s why YouTube has some pretty slick analytics available to anyone who uploads video. What surprises me is how few people know about it, even people who are enthusiastically uploading video on a regular basis. Perhaps it’s denial since it can be such a stark reminder that what you find compelling someone else might find boring and unengaging? Let’s hope not!

I produce a lot of videos myself and I know that there’s a pretty consistent drop-off in user-produced video viewership. I imagine that an episode of Big Bang Theory or the ten scariest minutes of a new horror film have very different viewership patterns, but for us small players, having people watch a few seconds, or a minute, or get half way and then lose interest is to be expected. What I look for are points during the video where the retention graph changes, either suddenly going flat, meaning that spot is extra engaging, or suddenly dropping, meaning that there’s something about that point in the video that causes lots of people to bail.

To find these analytics for your own videos on YouTube — you can’t see it for other people’s video — go to your own video, then click on “Analytics” on the top right toolbar. Then click on “Audience retention” on the left menu of analytic report options. This is the sort of thing you’ll see:

You can see what I mean now. In general, the further into the video, the more likely a viewer is to bail out and stop watching. In fact, the video is just over two minutes long and the average viewer sees about half, bailing at 1:12. I think that’s pretty good, actually, in our highly ADHD world when they’re on YouTube, a click away from millions of other videos.

Look closely at the graph, though, and you’ll notice something curious happens around 0:34 where retention improves for about seven seconds before resuming its usual slope. Conclusion: Whatever happens in the video at that point is good and creates more viewer engagement, sufficiently so that everyone who gets to the beginning of that passage sticks around for the next ten seconds or so.

As a feedback mechanism, that’s obviously something to study and duplicate in other videos! And those closing titles we like to add as video producers? Notice the last few seconds of the graph: when people know they’re at the end, they leave, they don’t wait to read the credits. You see this in a movie theater too, when we get that last fade to black, people are up and out.

Mistake #1: Naming your channel incorrectly. Is your name catchy? Is it friendly for search engines? Is it easy to remember? If not, it’s not a good name for you.

Mistake #2: Not attacking YouTube harder. This isn’t just a place for cat videos! There’s so much you can do with YouTube, so don’t underestimate this platform. Know why you want to be on YouTube, and have a plan for it. Be totally dedicated to your strategy.

Mistake #3: Lacking consistency. If you don’t give your channel attention on a regular basis, you’ll lose your momentum. A week or two is like years, so if you stop uploading content, your audience will fade away.

Mistake #4: Thinking YouTube is the only option. There are a lot of video hosting options out there. Your audience may not be on YouTube. Investigate and find what works for you.

Mistake #5: Being a perfectionist. You have to let things go. No video you create will ever be perfect. You have to get your video to a place where you think it’s good and then put it out there. Otherwise, you’ll never see a return on your investment of time.

Mistake #6: Creating multiple channels. Unless your topics are vastly different, resist the urge to make several different YouTube channels. Create one channel and put all of your content together. Especially when you’re starting out, it’s easier to build an audience in one place.

Mistake #7: Freaking out about it. We’re all learning and even the people at the top can learn something new.

No matter what kind of content you create online, it can be hard to find new fans who are interested in checking out what you’re offering. In this short video from Jonathan Robbins, creator of the dramatic web series Clutch, he gives some advice on how to reach a half a million views – without even giving up your creative license.

In this video, Robbins makes a good point: often, it is challenging to make strides growing your audience if you are also sticking true to the story you want to tell. It’s a balancing act between giving the people what they want and doing what you think is best. But as he points out, you don’t have to sacrifice your artistic freedom in order to get more fans. It’s about being smart with your resources.

Do you think you have to sell out to make money with your web series? Sound off in the comments below!

If you want more great advice straight from the experts about creating web series, check out the Web TV & Video track at NMX Las Vegas. See what the pros like Andre Meadows, Tara Platt, Kristen Nedopak, and Casey McKinnon have to say about finding your audience in their panel, In Search of Super Fans, just one of the sessions you can attend this January!

Do you think current smart TV allows easy integration between viewing programs and using the Internet? Comigo CEO Dov Moran (best known for developing the first flash drive, which sold to SanDisk for $1.6 Billion in 2006), thinks the current solutions don’t allow enough of an integrated experience. Check out what he has to say about the future of smart TVs:

Comigo is an interesting company in that they are B2B instead of B2C. Rather than having to purchase a Comigo box as a consumer, the company is approaching television providers with this solution, so you as the consumer would get Comigo the same way you get a cable/satellite box now. Dov went on to demo Comigo, and the features included:

Inviting friends to watch a show with you

Targeted polls and games based on the show you’re watching

The ability to chat with friends while watching a show together

Product pages with items for sale that directly relate to what you’re watching

The ability to pull up additional information about actors, players, etc. who are on screen

Connection with your smartphone or tablet to take your TV with you

It really is a very interesting smart TV solution, especially for those of you uploading web series, as it brings the Internet to the consumer via TV in a fully integrated way.

What do you think? Is Dov right, are current smart TVs not actually “smart” enough for consumer needs? Would you rather a smart TV solution like Comigo that you get from your TV provider, or do you want to be in control as the consumer and choose your own solution from the market?